🎶 November News from the JEN Research Interest Group

Welcome to the November edition of the JEN Research Interest Group newsletter. Below please find a variety of news items, announcements, callouts, new publications, and job opportunities.

Happy Thanksgiving - I’m grateful for this special network of dedicated supporters of this unique art form jazz. I’m also grateful for my current opportunity to envision and plan strategies and projects for the Center of Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music at the Jam Music Lab University in Vienna and soak in the cultural inspiration of this historic place. Please consider a proposal for the 3rd conference of the International Network for Artistic Research (INARJ) February 23-25 as we gather to define the field and exchange thoughts. Proposals can be in paper or performance format, the conference will be held hybrid, and the deadline is December 1. More info at https://artisticjazzresearch.com/.

I hope to see many of you in Orlando, January 4-7 for the annual JEN conference. Please remember that the research presentations will be on Wednesday, January 4 only and poster presentations on Thursday, January 5, so plan your travel time accordingly. I will organize a JENRing BYO dinner meetup in the evening of January 4 as a networking opportunity, look for details in the November newsletter and let me know if you’re interested so I can get a preliminary count on what to reserve for.

JAZZ Volume 4 will be available at the JEN conference with a host of exciting new articles. This will be the last edition under my editorship as I will pass on the lead to Martin Norgaard at Georgia State University. JEN members have access to reading the JAZZ articles for free on the JEN website, but also have access to a discounted yearly subscription for the print or electronic edition for $15 through the IU Press website.

The monthly series of webinars will continue after a short holiday break on February 3, 3pmEST with Glen Brumbach - The Effects of Two Jazz pedagogical approaches ....by high school musicians and on the first Friday of every month featuring one of the authors published in JAZZ (Jazz Education in Research and Practice). The goal of the presentations is to share the findings as well as ideas for practical implementations in the classroom and curricula. Please look for links and invitations to the webinars on the JEN website and Facebook page. They’ll be live streamed on Facebook, but those who register for the zoom webinar will be able to ask questions and interact with the panelists. All previous presentations can be accessed here.

Please feel free to share this news compilation and invite colleagues to join the mailing list and/or Facebook page. Remember to check the updated job listings here. If you have new books/ articles/ dissertations published, send me the info to be included in the newsletter. Also send over ideas on how JENRing can help you in your jazz research and networking. Items of interest related to jazz research may also be shared on the Facebook page.

For about 60 years, Barbra Streisand has had the same manager, Marty Erlichman. He’s 93 now and still remembers the night he knew there was nobody like her.

It was 1960. She was 18 and had earned a gig performing at the Bon Soir, a small, chic club in New York’s West Village. Over the phone earlier this week, he recalled sitting at a front-row table with some other reps, including a guy from William Morris, and Jack Rollins, who managed Woody Allen at the time. When Streisand started her set, one of them leaned over and said, “See, it’s acts like that need someone like me.” She was doing it wrong. Why was she opening with a ballad? Why was she opening with a ballad in those clothes?

Streisand’s two-week gig was extended to 11, then rebooked over the next two years, becoming a drag-your-friends, word-of-mouth must-see. The songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman caught it and had the same experience Erlichman did: cartoon birds flying around their heads. The Bergmans would go on to write the lyrics for the Streisand gems “The Way We Were,” “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (with Neil Diamond) and the songs for her directorial debut, “Yentl.” But that night, they were simply in awe. Alan, who’s 97, told me over the phone that “the minute she sang less than eight bars, Marilyn was in tears.”

What they all witnessed was a star, this singular source of incandescence — pillow-soft singing that was pow-right-in-the-kisser, too; phrasing that could turn a song into a literary event; and timing most stand-ups wish they had.

International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ)

Third Conference, February 23–25, 2023 (Vienna)

Call for Proposals

The International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ), founded in 2019, will host its Third Conference, February 23–25, 2023, at the JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music, Vienna. The aim of the group’s conferences is to strengthen its network and establish a platform for advocacy for artistic research in jazz and popular music. The methodology of artistic research is still fairly new in jazz and popular music genres and INARJ was founded with the mission to establish guidelines and resources for the field. The specific goal for the third conference is to discuss and experiment with questions of methodology, rigor, knowledge exchange, and positioning. Some conference sessions will be provided in hybrid format, however we encourage participants to plan on in-person attendance for more effective engagement in discussions and projects. Presentations should address one or more of the following areas in the form of discussion forums, project presentations, or performance sessions.

Research of versus research with.
Is there/should there be a distinction between using practice as a vehicle to articulate and disseminate research findings solely through the medium of performance or applied projects compared to more traditional research methods that disseminate knowledge generated by practice through transcriptions text? In the case of the latter, what is the distinction between this and more traditional forms of research?

Demonstrating ‘rigor’ in improvised music.
How can we demonstrate and assess the rigor of research that uses improvisation as a central component? Is it possible to formulate quality guidelines? How can we position research with improvised and popular music genres in the field of artistic research with the goal of inclusion in the Frascati Manual?

Knowledge exchange via improvised music practice.
If we are to align ourselves with the broader field of jazz studies, what are ways to effectively communicate the knowledge gained from artistic research? What might those modes of communication be? How can artistic research methods be incorporated in jazz pedagogy and higher education curricula?

Value/application of knowledge to the wider research community.
How can we better ensure rigor and mediating between artistic research and the potentially subjective nature of artistic practice and improvisation practice? For a potential journal, what should be guidelines and review practices to ensure rigor but provide for the applied and creative nature of the research?

To contribute, please send a 250-word summary of your proposed presentation, and a brief biographical statement of 50 words to monika.herzig@jammusiclab.com by 30.11.2022. Proposals will be reviewed by the convenors and participants will be notified by 21.12.2022. Proposals should be positioned in one of the four discussion areas above and can be in the following categories:

Presentations – 20-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of Q&A and discussion
Performance Projects – 20 minute projects followed by 10 minutes of Q&A and discussion.

Projects can be shared via recorded materials or live. For live performances, the room allows for a basic combo setup with keyboard, bass and guitar amps, and drum set. However, it is not possible to allow for rehearsal time and space.
For further information please visit http://www.artisticjazzresearch.com or contact monika.herzig@jammusiclab.com.

Conference Convenors

Michael Kahr (Gustav Mahler Private University of Music Klagenfurt / JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna)
Monika Herzig (JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music Vienna)
Andrew Bain (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)
Mike Fletcher (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)Matthias Heyman (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel)

A jazz composition competition by JAM MUSIC LAB University (JMLU) in cooperation with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO). The prize-winning work will be premiered on October 4th 2023 in the Grand Hall of the Konzerthaus Vienna under the direction of Marin Alsop. The concert will be recorded by ORF and broadcasted on the Ö1 program.

RSO and JMLU are continuing their first collaboration from 2017/2018. The composition competition “Spheres of a Genius” was based on the 100th Birthday of the jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk. The subsequent competition paid homage to Leonard Bernstein.

This third “Spheres of a Genius” event pays tribute to Carla Bley.

After a hiatus, the Journal of Jazz Studies is back presenting scholarly research via articles and reviews of jazz-related materials and disciplines. And we are reaching out to essayists and reviewers of books, recordings, videos and other media.Is there a film, box set, podcast or documentary that you would like to explore that hasn't been written about previously? A book that may be a hidden treasure, or one that you take issue with? We are seeking reviews of 2,000 words or less or more in-depth review essays (2,000-5,000 words). This is the place to share your research and opinions!!!

In particular, this is a great opportunity for first-time writers and junior scholars, particularly, but not exclusively in a degree program. We will go over your work carefully and assist you in the final preparation of your essay/review.We look forward to hearing from you, and having you join us in this renewed adventure in research!

Please contact our Reviews Editor, Jeff Sultanof (jeffsultanof@gmail.com), for more information or submit directly to the journal using our online submission system.

The Journal of Jazz Studies is an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal published by the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University-Newark, the Journal of Jazz Studies (JJS) is dedicated to publishing leading-edge research on all aspects and iterations of jazz.

Simultaneous Arrivals (simularr) is an artistic research project on novel forms of collaborative practices within the PEEK framework of the Austrian Science Fund FWF (AR 714-G), running from 2022 until 2025.

Simularr is happy to announce the open call for an artist-researcher to join and complement the team in Graz (Austria) during the first in-situ interval of the project for the period April and May 2023.

Application timeline: Submission deadline is 01 December 2022 (e-mail reception, 24:00 CET). Short-listed applications will be notified on 08 December and invited to an online (Jitsi or Zoom) meeting on 16 December.

About the Project
Simularr posits a novel mode of collaborative artistic process based on simultaneity and spatiality. These two elements act as ‘basic’ or ‘boundary’ concepts that guide artists working together, preserving diversity and individuality among the group, while binding the process as a whole and bridging boundaries between different practices. We aim to create new aesthetic approaches that reveal the collaborative process without collapsing to a single or synchronised position / object. The project designs methods that facilitate contact among the concurrent artistic processes and understanding how these concepts affect them. What are reference frames that allow to establish a “togetherness, at the same time”, and how do different types of spaces—thought spaces, aesthetic spaces, architectural spaces—and their corresponding modes of spatiality interact and interfere?1

This open call is for the project’s first working interval (April–May 2023), an in-situ phase that brings together artists-researchers to develop simultaneous ways of working, in close proximity and contact.2 During this period, the team will work with the invited artists-researchers distributed in labs and studios, where condensation happens along “thought spaces” as we bring our practices into contact with the shared concepts. Exchange happens in weekly gatherings and intermittent visits to each others’ working environment. The idea is to engage in common workshop-like activities, such as reading together, collecting materials together, sharing and discussing tools, strategies, and methods.

Embedded in the first interval is a two weeks intensive phase (10.–23.04.2022), a retreat to a particular architectural space whose affordances now become surfaces of condensation. This spatial conditioning also forms the basis for architectural designs. At the end of each interval, artefacts and propositions are displayed and performed, giving structural role to aesthetic spaces. The project’s process and output are documented online and disseminated and complemented through international events and a book.

The team consists of sound and digital artist Hanns Holger Rutz (principal investigator, IEM, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz), installation artist Nayarí Castillo (principal investigator, ISD, Graz University of Technology), architectural researcher Franziska Hederer (national partner, ISD, Graz University of Technology), and sound artist Daniele Pozzi (research associate). Across the project, they are working with invited artists-researchers and a board of advisors.

Who the Call Addresses
This call is directed at mid-career artists-researchers with prior experience in collaborative approaches and whose work incorporates spatial practices (e.g. intermedia, installation art, sound art, new media art, performing arts). Applicants should be able to demonstrate this through their past work (consistent portfolio / research material). They are capable and interested in exposing and reflecting their process and work through writing, discussion and other forms of discourse. They have an understanding of the field of artistic research, and they are intrigued by developing and sharing new approaches and methods for collaborative artistic practice and research with the team and with other artists-researchers during interval.

The Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education is an organization committed to advancing formal training and high educational standards for arts entrepreneurship education.
Founded in 2014, the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education provides a forum for communication among its members and advocates for formal training and high standards by - and for - arts entrepreneurship educators. It is a further goal of the Society to create standard learning outcomes for the field for accreditation purposes.

The Society holds an annual conference for the purposes of presenting scholarly papers, presenting and discussing the arts and entrepreneurship, addressing other issues pertinent to the Society such as pedagogy, outreach and conducting the business of the Society.

Join us online for two days of inspiring keynote addresses, networking, and presentations on arts entrepreneurship from established and emerging researchers and practitioners. Two days with SAEE will fill you with arts entrepreneurship ideas that you can use right away and throughout your year.

Thursday, April 13 & Friday, April 14
Pedagogy. Research. Community. Practice.
Online.

The last few months saw a striking degree of debate around ruangrupa’s Documenta 15. While the public arguments mostly focussed on issues of anti-Semitism, curatorial responsibility and Documenta’s political and historical context, the outline of a problem very familiar to us here at Journal for Artistic Research has also emerged; how can the treacherous waters between artistic freedom and collective responsibility be navigated under conditions of increased specificity and multiplicity? Since every artistic research project will, by seeking original knowledges, produce some form of rupture in the field, who is to take responsibility for such ruptures and the fallout that might occur? The artists, editors or curators, advisory or peer review panels? What are the practices that we might expect? Choosing this angle here does not imply any direct response to Documenta 15’s specific problems, which will occupy the various stakeholders and commentators for some time to come.

This special issue explores existing and possible connections between two different sets of practices: phenomenological research practice and artistic research practice. On the one hand, both sets of practices share a basic aspect: they approach their object of research as phenomena, that is, through their phenomenal presences. On the other hand, these sets of practice are configured by different forms of action developed in different media — among many others, written or oral language, drawing, architectural design, film, photography, sound, or body movement. On this twofold basis, we invited submission that addressed the following questions and demonstrated them in action: How do the commonalities between practices and methods of artistic and phenomenological research manifest? How can phenomenological research be accomplished in artistic media and by artistic means? How can artistic research extend the scope of phenomenology as a research practice? In turn, how can phenomenology contribute to further develop artistic research practices?

The focus of this special issue goes beyond traditional views of the relationships between art and phenomenology by considering both as fields of research, or more specifically, as ways of researching through phenomena. For the purposes of this special issue, art was not approached as an object of research for phenomenologists and phenomenology was not treated as a theoretical reference for artists producing art works. Accordingly, we neither focused on inquiry into practices of artistic production based in or inspired by phenomenology nor on phenomenological theories of art. Instead, we focused on research practices developed through the influence, combination, and even hybridization of phenomenological and artistic approaches in order to advance the methodological development of both fields.

Welcome to the 19th issue of Ruukku devoted to artistic research and its publicity. Making something public is intrinsic to both art making and artistic research. This issue of RUUKKU focuses on the variety of ways artistic research is made public and on the effect of published artworks and research on their immediate surroundings, neighborhoods or environments. The issue discusses the relevance of changes and traces that published artworks and artistic research leave in public space and vice versa. The call was opened for researchers and artists to ponder artistic research's relation to its publicity in its diversity.

To display a work in public means often to leave behind a singular piece or event in order to proceed further. It can also mean that development on one theme ceases and another begins. Clearly the occasion of publishing initiates reflection on how the work was received and leads to new approaches for proceeding with the research. Art and artistic research are not only made for the public; they are also informed by their own publicity.

The expositions in this issue show a variety of ways of relating to matters of publicity. Unexpected things like a courtyard, a residency, a graphic novel, a collaborative multispecies journey, or the artistic practice of removing became public platforms where artistic research happens. Addressing the public does not necessarily take the form of production, but it shows alternative experimental and experiential ways of relating to matters of publicity. In these expositions publishing is seen as a live model, a prototype for learning processes that develop in relationship with different facets of the concept of the public.

Despite the fact that most of jazz’s major innovators and performers have been African American, the overwhelming majority of jazz journalists, critics, and authors have been and continue to be white men. No major mainstream jazz publication has ever had a black editor or publisher. Ain’t But a Few of Us presents over two dozen candid dialogues with black jazz critics and journalists ranging from Greg Tate, Farah Jasmine Griffin, and Robin D. G. Kelley to Tammy Kernodle, Ron Welburn, and John Murph. They discuss the obstacles to access for black jazz journalists, outline how they contend with the world of jazz writing dominated by white men, and point out that these racial disparities are not confined to jazz but hamper their efforts at writing about other music genres as well. Ain’t But a Few of Us also includes an anthology section, which reprints classic essays and articles from black writers and musicians such as LeRoi Jones, Archie Shepp, A. B. Spellman, and Herbie Nichols.

During the formative years of jazz (1890–1917), the Creoles of Color—as they were then called—played a significant role in the development of jazz as teachers, bandleaders, instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Indeed, music penetrated all aspects of the life of this tight-knit community, proud of its French heritage and language. They played and/or sang classical, military, and dance music as well as popular songs and cantiques that incorporated African, European, and Caribbean elements decades before early jazz appeared. In Jazz à la Creole: French Creole Music and the Birth of Jazz, the author describes the music played by the Afro-Creole community since the arrival of enslaved Africans in La Louisiane, then a French colony, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, emphasizing the many cultural exchanges that led to the development of jazz.

Caroline Vézina has compiled and analyzed a broad scope of primary sources found in diverse locations from New Orleans to Quebec City, Washington, DC, New York City, and Chicago. Two previously unpublished interviews add valuable insider knowledge about the music on French plantations and the danses Créoles held in Congo Square after the Civil War. Musical and textual analyses of cantiques provide new information about the process of their appropriation by the Creole Catholics as the French counterpart of the Negro spirituals. Finally, a closer look at their musical practices indicates that the Creoles sang and improvised music and/or lyrics of Creole songs, and that some were part of their professional repertoire. As such, they belong to the Black American and the Franco-American folk music traditions that reflect the rich cultural heritage of Louisiana.